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- Gamers all around the world are excited for Capcom to release the remake of Resident Evil 4 in 2023 after the series saw a great revival with Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, Resident Evil 2 remake, and Resident Evil: Village. Each of these entries returned to what Resident Evil is known for; unrelenting horror and highly difficult campaigns.
When Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine fought for their lives against Umbrella and its horrific creations in the original Resident Evil game, it practically invented the survival horror genre as people know it today at the same time. The series has always been marked by its difficulty curve, requiring players to keep their wits, conserve ammo, and know when to retreat when things get too dicey.
Careless playing results in a number of gruesome deaths. Some punish the player with lopsided challenges, while others use difficulty as an actual game mechanic in order to force players to stay on the move. Whichever game in the franchise is brought up, there's bound to be plenty of tense moments and sweaty palms.
Updated on November 29th, 2022 by Melody MacReady:
Gamers all around the world are excited for Capcom to release the remake of Resident Evil 4 in 2023 after the series saw a great revival with Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, Resident Evil 2 remake, and Resident Evil: Village. Each of these entries returned to what Resident Evil is known for; unrelenting horror and highly difficult campaigns.
Not every mainline Resident Evil game has been difficult, some have been disappointingly easy. So, where do entries such as the now-iconic remakes and the lesser-know Revelations games rank among the others? Each of them provides something different, from the monsters to the main villains to even the puzzles or lack thereof.
15 Resident Evil 6 (2012)
While Resident Evil 6 is often considered the worst of the saga due to its gameplay, it does have certain difficult moments. The main issue is that the shift in focus from survival horror to third-person action shooter robbed this entry of its core foundation, making it far too easy to stay alive and thrive.
Though the fight against Derek Simmons is one of the hardest boss battles of the entire Resident Evil franchise, it's not enough to offset the forgiving nature of the rest of the game. Resident Evil 6 was more about cinematic narrative than challenge, which wasn't what longtime fans of the series were hoping for.
14 Resident Evil (1996)
If anything made the first Resident Evil game difficult, it was a mixture of game mechanics, the camera system, and the novelty of the genre at the time. By today's standards, it's a rather easy game to beat, especially for gamers who've already played through it from start to finish.
The main challenges came from the puzzles, rather than battles against zombies and mutated monsters. With some careful stepping, some analyzing of attack patterns, and a balanced approach to inventory management, Resident Evil is rather vanilla in terms of difficulty. It did, however, sport one of the scariest moments of the entire Resident Evil franchise, and helped kick off a pop culture phenomenon.
13 Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Resident Evil 2 built on the success of the seminal original by expanding the scope of the game. The environments were larger and more varied, the story was far more complex, and the monsters more unique and dangerous. This ramped up the difficulty, even if it wasn't as noticeable as in later games in the franchise.
The 2019 remake of RE2 was a completely different kind of game, with its own difficulty curve thrown in. The original release, however, was more about continuing the story and building on the lore, as opposed to offering a nail-biting challenge.
12 Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)
Though Capcom added a bit more horror elements to make Resident Evil: Revelations a bit harder than Resident Evil 4, it's still far from the hardest. It's more of an action game than anything that follows the same gameplay formula as Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6.
There are enemies that will provide some trouble, but most fans will recommend that players looking for a challenge should play the game on a higher difficulty. It's a solid gameplay challenge throughout that may stop a player from time to time.
11 Resident Evil (2002)
This was more than a fresh coat of paint for the original Resident Evil game. This remake takes all the best elements such as the puzzles, exploration, horror, item management, and limited saves of the original, and fixed everything that quickly dated it.
The awkward controls of the original were replaced with tighter controls, but the difficulty was still increased thanks to inclusions such as the Crimson Heads and harder-to-kill zombies, a common theme with remakes in this franchise.
10 Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Resident Evil 4 was the first entry in the series to completely abandon the rigid camera system of the original games, and it was a welcome change for longtime fans. Capcom took the opportunity to swap out the perspective and environmental modeling, which allowed them to ratchet up the tension at the same time.
This chapter forced players into a whole new level of discomfort. Sitting still was not an option, as hordes of Las Plagas infected would quickly overwhelm and kill them in short order. The need to stay on the move during major firefights was incredibly nerve-wracking, and that made RE4 a much more difficult game than its predecessors.
9 Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)
This is a case where, much like Dead Space 3, it depends on how the player goes through the game. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 has the option to play through the game either solo or in a co-op session. Solo is radically harder since it's one player against many zombies and monsters which can lead to many stress-inducing sections.
Obviously, co-op is a bit easier since two organized players can have each other's backs. With that said, even veteran co-op players will state that certain sections can still get hectic to the point of blood-pumping.
8 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
Nemesis managed to switch up the established formula of the first two games by introducing an element into the equation that left players in a constant state of fear and paranoia. The Nemesis creature itself was hulking, monstrous, and relentless, chasing the player throughout Raccoon City at breakneck speed.
The constant feeling of dread was a stroke of genius on Capcom's part. While the base game wasn't all that different from Resident Evil 2, the difficulty was another matter. Nemesis continues to be one of the most iconic villains and defining elements of the Resident Evil franchise, and a showcase for how it can scare the life out of players.
7 Resident Evil Village (2021)
Capcom's newest entry in the Resident Evil franchise takes a lot of its cues from the previous chapter, duplicating the same first-person feel, with a focus on Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style tension and inventive, excellent new characters. In terms of difficulty, however, it's a bit more forgiving than others.
Resident Evil Village is most difficult at the beginning of the game while players get accustomed to the weapons, the controls, and the pacing. If they can survive the initial onslaught, the rest of the game provides a manageable enough challenge on Normal, with options to ratchet up the curve on a second playthrough.
6 Resident Evil VII (2017)
Resident Evil 7, though a later installment in the franchise, is actually highly regarded for going back to the series' survival horror roots and stripping out a lot of the superfluous action mechanics. The result is a robust, streamlined exercise in psychological video game terror.
The game is also the first in the mainline series to be set from a first-person perspective, adding a new level of immersion that the previous games didn't have. Visually, this was a paradigm shift, offering new ways to scare the pants off gamers, in the vein of survival horror games like Alien Isolation.
5 Resident Evil Zero (2002)
Though Resident Evil Zero wasn't as well received as previous entries in the franchise, it was one of the most difficult. This becomes apparent right at the start of the game when players are challenged straight out of the gate. It's an unusual switch-up from the slow, tense buildup of previous titles.
New monsters like zombie leeches and a punishing inventory system gave Zero a bit of a bad rap. For survival horror purists, it was probably a blessing in disguise, but for more casual Resident Evil fans, it was something of a nightmare.
4 Resident Evil 3 (2020)
Strangely enough, Resident Evil 3 is far easier than its predecessor. That's not to say that it is a cakewalk, because it is not, it still features the same difficult zombies as Resident Evil 2 as well as puzzles and intense boss fights. However, where Resident Evil 3 both shines and fumbles is with the iconic monster known as Nemesis.
In the original Resident Evil 3, Nemesis could appear at any point, which made him scary and challenging. In the remake, Nemesis is a threat when he pursues the player, but his sections are scripted. Combined with a far shorter story than Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 is still a worthwhile challenge for players, but very much a downgrade from what came before.
3 Resident Evil: Code Veronica (2000)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica is not a difficult game on its own, but some questionable design choices made it much harder than it needed to be. There are some memorable battles in the game, including the plane battle against Tyrant, one of the most powerful monsters in Resident Evil history.
However, the biggest difficulty curve comes courtesy of the narrative. Players begin as Claire Redfield and tend to gobble up every item, weapon, and ammo pack around. When the game switches to Chris as the lead protagonist, most gamers were shocked to learn that they'd be left with an empty pantry as a result of earlier hoarding habits. Overcoming this challenge could be a monstrous undertaking.
2 Resident Evil 5 (2009)
While Resident Evil 5 was built on the same run-and-gun premise of Resident Evil 4, the introduction of a buddy system actually made things a lot worse in terms of the challenge factor. With ammo already scarce, single players were forced to contend with Sheva Alomar, a computer-controlled partner that could defend herself but still needed the player's help.
This created plenty of headaches, especially since it was also the player's job to prevent Sheva from getting killed, under the penalty of a "Game Over." Even in co-op, there are plenty of sections where players will be scrambling for resources as they take on the Ouroboros plague and the B.O.W.s of the new Umbrella.
1 Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Rather than a direct 1:1 recreation of the original Resident Evil 2, this remake rebuilt everything from the ground up to make a new experience heavily inspired by the original. Some gamers were tricked into thinking it would be easier with the lack of tank controls and it being more like modern Resident Evil games.
They were very wrong, because the Resident Evil 2 remake takes the challenge of Resident Evil VII and merges it with the original. The zombies are even harder to kill, Mr. X is far more of a challenge than his PS1 counterpart, the bosses are even more intense, and some of the puzzles are going to have newcomers stumped for some time.